Baseball fever

It is not any surprise that Elem has shown love and skill I might add :) in every single sport we can think of! Of course, a parents view does tend to be a little biased, but whatever! I am sure I have a little miniature athlete on my hands here, and I LOVE spending time watching him learn and love the games with no sense of winning and losing attached just yet. So far, basketball, soccer, golf, football, swimming, kickball, and just running all over the place in general seem to have a special place in his heart. I mean these days when you ask him who his favorite golfer is, his response: "Tiguuur Wuuds". And when asked if I can play baseball with him, versus he and his daddy playing, I often get the response: "No mommy, you a girl, you can play kickball". (seriously! Can you believe that?!) And when watching football, we often hear the phrase: "I'm gonna get me a fut-ball he-met, cause I play fut-bal, and I'm gone knock him down". Wow the things these little boys learn without even pumping it into their heads! I have made a great effort to promote sports, as well as art, and music, and reading-all equal, into the daily life of our kid, but it is no lie that Elem is a sports fanatic. And the only way I can describe it: he was born that way. No other way around it. And so, with the love of sports, must come the all American sport...baseball.



No secret, Elem LOVEs him a good ole fashion bat and ball. He is serious when it comes to hitting the ball, and doesn't really have time for the tee anymore. He only uses that thing on occasion, but for the most part, just wants to PLAY BALL! He likes to stand with his favorite yellow bat waiting for you to toss a baseball his way. Only to hit just about every single one you throw at him, and you better watch out because he has been known to hit a few line drives right at your face or extremities. When he is "the pitcher" as he calls it he throws the ball, and will randomly yell out, "get it off your shoulder!" actually not randomly, just about every time. Haha. You really have to pay attention to your stance when he is around! He means business.

So in true baseball fashion, we have tried to take Elem tone of the only Little Rock big times games around! We are kind of limited here, so the Arkansas Travelers are big time for us. :) We headed to a game earlier in the season, and Elem really seemed to enjoy it. They have a great new stadium, with a huge area for kids to play with tons of bounce houses and slides, and a great grass area for families to watch the game behind the third base and along the outfield. It is a perfect place to relax in the sun, eat some good baseball game food, and just watch the game in the open. No worry about staying in your seat or worrying if your kid has to go to the bathroom, but you are still super close to the game. Like I said, it is really great!

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to the Dickey Steven's Stadium for a meet and greet with the players before the game, which turned out to be so much fun for Elem! We got to go right on the field and Elem got to meet all the players and get his very special baseball (that one of the Travs threw him at the last game) signed by a couple of good players. He was a little overwhelmed with the whole thing, but I think he got the idea. He loved being right on the field-even though he really wanted to "run the bases" and jumped right in when we told him the players were going to sign his baseball.




Looking up to the big guys-and longing to be JUST like em'


Uhm, sir-are you going to be really good in this game? Is your signature worth anything? Okay let me know ...my mommy told me to ask you haha- :)


Like I said, after just a couple of minutes, he totally got the idea, and was super proud of his baseball with all of the signatures on it. Here he is showing off his signed up baseball.


Mommy and her little baseball player before he is famous!


Mom, you said I can play baseball, right? why cant I go run the bases right now? I wanna run the bases!!!!!


What a fun day! Seriously, at one point, Seth had Elem over at the bounce houses, and I was sitting on the blanket by myself just feeling the breeze blow my hair, while I watched the game. It was so peaceful, the day, Elem, Seth, the players, everything! There is absolutely nothing about the baseball field that stresses me out, and I LOVE that! ha! Elem loved watching the batter-even from so far away, and seeing if he was going to "hit it far away". He pretty much gave us a play by play, and anytime anyone slid into base or got tackled or fell down, he was so on top of reporting it to us. What a great day! Baseball games are so much fun and I look forward to many many more with my little family.